“The goal, I suppose, any fiction writer has, no matter what your subject, is to hit the human heart and the tear ducts and the nape of the neck and to make a person feel something about the characters are going through and to experience the moral paradoxes and struggles of being human”(Tim O’Brien). This quote, said by Tim, helps illustrate the emotional connection O’Brien is trying to make with the reader. He intends to touch the reader’s heart with his words, not just make a profit off his work.
Using this strategy of writing helped O’Brien become a respected writer during the 18th and 19th Centurys. William Timothy O’Brien Jr. , more commonly known as Tim O’Brien, was born in Austin, Minnesota. He was born on October 1, 1946, to William Timothy O’Brien and Ave E. Schultz O’Brien. He was born during the post World War II baby boom era(Cliffsnotes. com). Both his parents were employed and successful. His father was an insurance agent, and his mother was an elementary school teacher. When Tim was one year old, he became a big brother to his little sister Kathleen.
Nine years passed and when Tim was ten, his family welcomed a baby boy to their family, Greg. After Greg was born, the O’Brien family relocated from Austin to an even smaller town in the southwest corner of the state, Worthington, Minnesota. The O’Brien family lived in Worthington for the rest of Tim’s childhood and all of his adolescent years. While growing up, Tim, Kathleen, Greg, and their parents had a passion for reading. Many nights, William O’Brien would come home after work with books from the local library(Guides). This may have inspired Tim to write books.
Just as Tim’s life seemed to resemble a rollercoaster only going up, the rollercoaster took a huge plunge. Tim’s father William, suffered from alcoholism and began to abuse his children, but mostly the youngest sibling, Greg. Although the relationship between Tim and his father was not good, he still admired and had some respect for his father’s intelligence and work ethic. To get away from the abusive environment at home, Tim had developed an interest in magic, and went around to different places in Worthington to perform.
After a few shows, he found himself a high school graduate. It was now time to escape his home and attend college(Cliffnotes. com). He decided to become one of The Scots and attended Macalester College, a private liberal arts school, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Luckily, for Tim and all the other Scots, Macalester did not partake in war protests on campus(Guides). Having a calm and quiet campus was unusual for that time period because everyone wanted to voice his or her own opinions about the war. Shortly after O’Brien graduated from college, he was drafted into the army(Memory).
The Draft was a procedure created in 1973 to ensure they would have troops to go to war if no one volunteered. It was mandatory for every male within the predetermined age range to enlist in The Draft Lottery. Although about two-thirds of the American troops that served in Vietnam were volunteers, that still required the government to draft the other one-third(Bai). Tim O’Brien’s number was picked, and even though he was totally opposed to the war, he did what was right and served his country. He went to Vietnam instead of fleeing to Canada because he did not want others to think he was a coward.
From 1969-1970, he was placed in the 46th Infantry Regiment which was located in Quang Ngai, Vietnam, but before a year passed he transferred to in Third Platoon in My Lai, Vietnam. The experiences he went through while at war inspired him to write and share them with others. Tim arrived back to the United States with full heart and mind, but also with a Purple Heart medal(ic). The Purple Heart is awarded to any member of the United States armed forces who is injured by an enemy’s instrument of war(Purpleheart. org).
While over in Vietnam Tim O’Brien was wounded by shrapnel from a hand grenade. He also arrived back to the states with personal reports about the war. Entering these reports into the Minnesota newspaper sparked Tim O’Brien’s writing career. The first novel O’Brien published was, If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home(Ic). He wrote this novel while attending graduate school at Harvard. This novel illustrates how it was not easy mentally for the soldiers during the Vietnam War. O’Brien shares personal stories of depression and misery he was put through at war.
By using real examples from his life, he can touch the reader’s heart and get their attention. He then wrote a short story called “Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy? ” in 1975. This is a story about Private First Class Paul Berlin, and it takes place in Vietnam during the war. Paul Berlin is very nervous for his first day at war. He is struggling to deal with his anxiety, even though his fellow soldiers try and help calm him down. Another book he wrote was Northern Lights, which was awarded the 1979 National Book Award.
This book was about two bothers; one was a war hero, and the other was a farm agent who stayed in Minnesota. The brothers go on a cross-country ski trip together, and have a hard time trying to stay alive in the frigid wilderness. A few years later he published Going After Cacciato. The novel is about an infantryman named Cacciato who wonders away from Southeast Asia, and hopes to arrive in Paris for the peace talks. Paul Berlin, another character, is ordered to go and retrieve Cacciato before he gets all the way to Paris. Going After Cacciato was also awarded the National Book Award.
In 1985, O’Brien wrote The Nuclear Age, which is about a draft dodger who is obsessed with the threat of a nuclear holocaust. He then wrote The Things They Carried in 1990. This book is a collection of stories from men serving in the Alpha Company, an infantry platoon in Vietnam. The stories rang from what the men carried with them on the battlefield for good luck to what life was like when the soldiers got back from serving in Vietnam. He also wrote the book, In the Lake of the Woods, a married couple, John and Kathy Wade, are staying at a private cottage in northern Minnesota.
John Wade had recently just lost a senatorial election by a lot. Somehow word gets out that he was a soldier in My Lai, and John has been trying to keep it a secret from everyone, including his wife. A week into their stay in northern Minnesota, John’s wife, Kathy, disappeared. She may have drowned, she may have run away, or her own husband may have killed her. This is a mystery novel with an untraditional ending because it never revels what happened to Kathy Wade. In 1998, Tim O’Brien composed the novel, Tomcat in Love.
This is a novel written in first person about the unfortunate events that happen during a womanizing linguistics Professor, Thomas Chippering. Chippering gets himself in trouble by being a persistent flirt, a bad liar, and a completely self-centered man. His most recent book, July, July, which was written in 2002, is about the 30th reunion of the Darton Hall College graduation class of 1969. Although the reunion should have taken place in 1999, the book takes place in 2000. This book is full of flash blacks from long ago that shaped the characters to who they are now 30 years later.
Through all these books, O’Brien uses real examples that people can connect too, which makes it easier for the books to touch people’s heart. O’Brien wrote many books, and he also won many awards for his books. O’Brien won a total of 4 awards(Cliffnotes. com). He was awarded the National Book Award in 1979 for his book, Going After Cacciato. He also won another award in 1995. O’Brien received the lames Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction for his book, In the Lake of the Woods. His third award was given to him in August of 2012.
He received the Dayton Literacy Peace Prize Foundation’s Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. His last award was just a couple of years ago. In 2013, O’Brien was awarded the $100,000 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award. Although O’Brien did not win the award, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In conclusion, Tim O’Brien was a very influential writer. He used many real examples from his life during the war in his books. He is able to touch people’s heart and connect with people by using real examples, which helps him become a very respected writer.
